Just three days before they play the first leg of their CHL Quarter-Final in Espoo, the Blues and Karpat met up north in Oulu in Liiga action. Karpat won the game 5–2 to end their four-game losing streak.

by Jarkko Harjumaa, Iiro Lampinen and Miikka Jarvenpaa

OULU – Karpat Oulu found themselves in a four-game losing streak before the first of four games against the Espoo Blues. On Saturday night on their home ice in Oulu, they snapped that slump with a 5–2 win over the Blues.

According Karpat head coach Lauri Marjamaki, his team was determined to end their losing streak on home ice against Blues. "The boys had already decided in Helsinki (Friday against HIFK) that this streak would end today. This game didn't have any more scoring chances than the other ones, but this time we won and that's good. Hats off to our team."

After the first 10 minutes, Karpat got to a swift two-goal lead on goals from Ivan Huml and Simon Suoranta. But the Blues were far from defeated and only 30 seconds after the 2–0 goal, Blues captain Kim Hirschovits cut the deficit in half with a wrap-around goal. The tying goal came close to reality when Karpat players lost the handle in their defensive zone.

Young Karpat star Sebastian Aho returned from a frightening head injury and made an impact immediately. The 18-year-old forward scored two goals in the second period and after Huml's second goal of the game made it 5–1 in the third, the game was pretty much decided. The Blues got one back on a power-play goal from defenceman Otso Rantakari, but it wasn't enough.

Blues head coach Jyrki Aho was pleased with his team's performance in the first two periods but not the third. "After the 5–1 goal we kinda started playing for ourselves. It's understandable but not acceptable."

The Blues will have a chance to redeem themlsevles on Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions Hockey League quarter-finals, which will be played at home at Espoo Metro Areena. Coach Aho said that his team's success has come as a surprise to many.

"No one could predict that we would go this far," he said of his team's success in the CHL. "Today we played for Liiga points, on Tuesday we're looking to put ourselves in a good position for the second leg of the quarter-finals."

Marjamaki was pleased to see his team score goals efficently. "In the CHL it's a different system. Every goal counts. (Today) we regained faith in our ability to score. We'll head to Espoo with confidence and high spirits."

Blues defenceman Jere Seppala is thrilled to play Karpat multiple times in the coming weeks.

"Karpat are a great team and these are tough games. It's awesome to get to play these and I'm enjoying it to the fullest. On Tuesday it's the CHL again and we're prepared give our everything."